Remove Old Tile Mortar Bed

While the process of removing mortar from tiles may be a little time consuming the resulting clean tile is worth it.

Remove old tile mortar bed.

Chisel through the mortar until the underlying substrate is reached and identified. Remove one tile at a time and scrub them with the brush to remove the loosened residue. If you are replacing tile on a mortar bed you will need to chisel the tiles off with a small sledge hammer and heavy carbide chisel so even if the bed looks somewhat undamaged it probably has a number of cracks in it that will fail either immediately or very soon after you install new tile. Use multiple passes to remove the mortar.

For other tips check out our concrete cleaning solution page. Rinse with clean water and lay out to dry for about 24 hours. This isn t as bad as what you may think you do need to remove the mortar bed and install a backer board then tile. Chisel through tile surfacing and the mortar bed in a small section using a cold chisel and hammer.

This should not be a problem if the installers are skilled at installing and removing mortar bed installations. On the first pass level the surface removing any sharp protrusions. On the third pass remove these hard remnants reducing all the mortar to dust. Chisel down through the bed to the tar paper then use a big flatbar or similar demolition tool to pry up chunks of mortar and tile.

Use the second pass to remove the majority of the mortar leaving only the hardest remnants on the surface of the concrete. First to remove the bed of mortar you ll need a large pry bar. Tile removal before you remove the mesh and mortar of a mud wall you must first deal with the tile.